Hands-on with Microsoft’s Office Mobile for Android

It's nearly identical to the recent iOS release—except it won't play on tablets.

Following up on its release of an Office app for Apple iOS devices, Microsoft has released Office Mobile for Android. As the name implies, it's an app that gives Android phone users the ability to access and edit documents created in the Microsoft Office desktop suite.

But as with the iOS app, there are caveats. You have to be a subscriber. And it's utterly worthless to tablet users. The Android app will not install on tablet form-factor devices, which is a strike against it compared to the iOS version. That at least runs in a very low-resolution mode on the iPad. However, the Android app does allow users to open Office-formatted documents from other apps, including DropBox, so you're not entirely shoehorned into the Microsoft ecosystem for collaboration.

Users of Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium, Office 365 University, or an enterprise Office 365 account that includes licenses to the Office 2013 productivity suite can download the app for free from the Google Play store. Those without a subscription can buy one from within the app during initial startup. To see what fun may await you, we've got a look at some of the app's features below.

Sounds like Microsoft is just being its good ol' self. Releasing a restriction-encumbered product that is inferior to pretty much every other major competing office suite in the Play Store. No thanks. As the previous poster mentioned, OfficeSuite Pro is already a great office suite, and I use Drive for a lot of my editing anyway.

Not running on tablets is a ridiculous and completely arbitrary restriction, since Android can scale the apps to any screen size. Sure they won't look as nice as tablet optimized apps, but it's preferable to having no app at all.

I guess this fits in well with other failed Microsoft mobile initiatives... I'm starting to think that Microsoft should be labeling any of their mobile products with the RT designation... standing for Real Turd.

Why exactly would someone bother with this? The other apps that are available without a subscription are relatively full-featured and at this point are much more mature.

I'll look at it when the features compare and don't require a subscription.

Well, honestly, I've already got a 365 sub, so its fine by me. I wouldn't have gotten it for this, but since I've got it, great. Its for 365 subscribers, I think, rather than a point of conversion.

More importantly, its not trying to replace desktop Office, since that is Microsoft's #1 moneymaker.Its a compliment to it, I think, but not stand alone. Different goals. If you've got a competing product you prefer, go for it, since they're probably designed with goals more in line with what you want, and wouldn't be shooting themselves in the foot by doing so.

Note: I've got a Windows Phone already, and its usable for basic editing, viewing, etc. I'm not power-using Excel or whatever here, and that's all I need. YMMV.

Almost. I'd just move the doom click a minute closer to midnight. If it was an official Office release for Ubuntu, thatd be O.O

I suspect they want to keep the full Office on OSX and Windows, but with the subscription plan? An actual Linux version isn't as far fetched as it was before. Ditto with their "software and services" mantra.

Sounds like Microsoft is just being its good ol' self. Releasing a restriction-encumbered product that is inferior to pretty much every other major competing office suite in the Play Store. No thanks. As the previous poster mentioned, OfficeSuite Pro is already a great office suite, and I use Drive for a lot of my editing anyway.

Much like Google intentionally crippling their services on non-Android platforms.

I don't have a 365 subscription, so I can't try it for myself, but I've got to say, I'm impressed with how much Microsoft seems to have adhered to standard Android UI conventions. The action bar, the main navigation controls, and even the tabbed view on what appears to be the main Office start activity (where there are selections for blank documents and templates, etc.) all looks very much in line with standard Android design guidelines. This certainly isn't just Metro ported over to Android, as the first image's caption seems to suggest.

Sounds like Microsoft is just being its good ol' self. Releasing a restriction-encumbered product that is inferior to pretty much every other major competing office suite in the Play Store. No thanks. As the previous poster mentioned, OfficeSuite Pro is already a great office suite, and I use Drive for a lot of my editing anyway.

Much like Google intentionally crippling their services on non-Android platforms.

Oh, these companies!

MS has more to gain from the hundred's of millions of Android users and apple ios users than Google with WP's 15 or so million, of which around 10 million of that was from the past 6 or so months.

I would guess that the tablet restriction is to make Surface more attractive. After all being able to run Office is one of (the only?) USP of Surface RT.

Given that restriction, why did they bother releasing it at all?

This. Having the app scaled to run on android tablets would mean even less differentation in a world filled with tablets - and thus one less reason for people to buy one the millions of windows tablets sitting in the warehouses - from the 960 million dollar write off.

I would guess that the tablet restriction is to make Surface more attractive. After all being able to run Office is one of (the only?) USP of Surface RT.

Given that restriction, why did they bother releasing it at all?

This. Having the app scaled to run on android tablets would mean even less differentation in a world filled with tablets - and thus one less reason for people to buy one the millions of windows tablets sitting in the warehouses - from the 960 million dollar write off.

Just my opinion

Well, its to promote Office, which I think is MS's #1 source of revenue. That's more important than Surface RT to MS, by far. And since the full version of Office is limited to Windows and OSX (be it for professional or home use?), its meant to compliment their existing services and products. They want you to see the Android version as a compliment, an accessory, to the full version.

And, really, the free Office on Surface RT was non-commercial. Notice the Surface Pro didn't come with Office at all.

I would guess that the tablet restriction is to make Surface more attractive. After all being able to run Office is one of (the only?) USP of Surface RT.

Given that restriction, why did they bother releasing it at all?

This. Having the app scaled to run on android tablets would mean even less differentation in a world filled with tablets - and thus one less reason for people to buy one the millions of windows tablets sitting in the warehouses - from the 960 million dollar write off.

Just my opinion

Well, its to promote Office, which I think is MS's #1 source of revenue. That's more important than Surface RT to MS, by far. And since the full version of Office is limited to Windows and OSX (be it for professional or home use?), its meant to compliment their existing services and products. They want you to see the Android version as a compliment, an accessory, to the full version.

And, really, the free Office on Surface RT was non-commercial. Notice the Surface Pro didn't come with Office at all.

Of course Ballmer is on record stating that MS was "always a hardware company", and wants to get more into it with the surface. And since apple makes billions on hardware, we can too!

Problem is it is hard to make a profit on hardware when your own partners will sell the same product for less. Nobody seems to miss the surface's advantages.

Sounds like Microsoft is just being its good ol' self. Releasing a restriction-encumbered product that is inferior to pretty much every other major competing office suite in the Play Store. No thanks. As the previous poster mentioned, OfficeSuite Pro is already a great office suite, and I use Drive for a lot of my editing anyway.

Much like Google intentionally crippling their services on non-Android platforms.

Oh, these companies!

MS has more to gain from the hundred's of millions of Android users and apple ios users than Google with WP's 15 or so million, of which around 10 million of that was from the past 6 or so months.

How about totally horking both EAS and subsequently IMAP/CalDAV in favor of their own proprietary mail protocol available to literally no other users (including ... well.. every OS that isn't Android)?

Just writing to let you know that the pictures didn't load properly on a Galaxy S3 using the latest Firefox for Android browser. Let me know if you need specific numbers. In the past your picture articles have loaded fine, so I don't know if something change on your end or mine

Why exactly would someone bother with this? The other apps that are available without a subscription are relatively full-featured and at this point are much more mature.

I'll look at it when the features compare and don't require a subscription.

I don't think they're are targeting just about anyone , they're catering for people who already have Office 365 subscription. I will have better compatibility with desktop Office files , something most if the other apps you're referring to doesn't have.

Sounds like Microsoft is just being its good ol' self. Releasing a restriction-encumbered product that is inferior to pretty much every other major competing office suite in the Play Store. No thanks. As the previous poster mentioned, OfficeSuite Pro is already a great office suite, and I use Drive for a lot of my editing anyway.

Much like Google intentionally crippling their services on non-Android platforms.

Oh, these companies!

MS has more to gain from the hundred's of millions of Android users and apple ios users than Google with WP's 15 or so million, of which around 10 million of that was from the past 6 or so months.

How about totally horking both EAS and subsequently IMAP/CalDAV in favor of their own proprietary mail protocol available to literally no other users (including ... well.. every OS that isn't Android)?

FYI, Google opened up CalDav to everyone about a month ago. It was announced on their blog or + post. IMAP has always been there.

Sounds like Microsoft is just being its good ol' self. Releasing a restriction-encumbered product that is inferior to pretty much every other major competing office suite in the Play Store. No thanks. As the previous poster mentioned, OfficeSuite Pro is already a great office suite, and I use Drive for a lot of my editing anyway.

Much like Google intentionally crippling their services on non-Android platforms.

Oh, these companies!

MS has more to gain from the hundred's of millions of Android users and apple ios users than Google with WP's 15 or so million, of which around 10 million of that was from the past 6 or so months.

How about totally horking both EAS and subsequently IMAP/CalDAV in favor of their own proprietary mail protocol available to literally no other users (including ... well.. every OS that isn't Android)?

Why will they do that ? They make quite a ton of money from EAS, it's good if they support it but they're not under any obligation to support IMAP/CalDAV . BTW Google is dropping CalDAV in favor of their own proprietary protocols. and EAS is quite dominant in enterprise.

Microsoft needs to wake up to the fact that if they sell Office for iOS (a hypothetical Office version that is actually good, that is) they will make money. Potentially lots of money. Making money is good.

Restricting Office to Windows Phone just means people will find other solutions on iOS and Android. They aren't the big boy in the mobile/tablet market, and they don't get to throw their weight around like they can in the PC market.

intentionally gimped, just like onenote for android. two updates ago (beginning of july) MS deliberately removed support for hardware keyboards in onenote - whether it's bluetooth or built-in (like droid4). every other app on the planet works with hardware keyboards, but ms specifically excludes them. in a NOTE-TAKING APP! holy flying wtf batman??

glad i had a titanium backup of onenote, pre-gimping, so i can still use my d4's physical keyboard. if apps other than onenote were allowed to be installed on our work PCs, i'd dump onenote entirely and go to evernote or something else i can sync online.

Microsoft needs to wake up to the fact that if they sell Office for iOS (a hypothetical Office version that is actually good, that is) they will make money. Potentially lots of money. Making money is good.

Restricting Office to Windows Phone just means people will find other solutions on iOS and Android. They aren't the big boy in the mobile/tablet market, and they don't get to throw their weight around like they can in the PC market.

I'm a version behind, but what do you think the Windows Phone version has over the iOS and Android versions? Its pretty basic, and would never replace actual Office. Truth be told, the web versions are far more robust and feature filled than my WP 7.8 version of Office. From what I've seen of WP8, its not much different.

I'm all for them improving things, especially since its part of a subscription service, but don't see where I'm better off except that I don't have to have a 365 sub for the WP version. I "paid" for it when getting the phone, so its not like it was free for me. Nice consolation since WP's app market is still limited...

Yeah, I'd just love to get some Microsoft spokesperson on the spot trying to explain this one. "Uh, we, uh, er, were trying to enhance the usability for tablet users, and we didn't want them to suffer a cut-down phone interface, so we found it was more functional to eliminate the app entirely, to prevent disappointment."

Every now and then I figure I'll give Microsoft another chance, maybe they've changed. Hah! Fat chance.

Microsoft have been fucking around with Android for some time. Check out their OneNote Android app - since the last update it hasn't accepted input from the Transformer's dock keyboard. They actually DISABLED that in the update, since it was working before.

Why exactly would someone bother with this? The other apps that are available without a subscription are relatively full-featured and at this point are much more mature.

I'll look at it when the features compare and don't require a subscription.

Actually, no Android office suite is as good as Office, period. I've tried many and settled with OfficeSuite Pro, but I still get a few crashes, documents that refuse to open, and there are a few nagging details such as no button on the menu bar for justified paragraph (you have to format it through the menu).

I do wish other suites become increasingly competitive, but for the time being I've dismissed the option of using my tablet as a full replacement for a work laptop.

The most useful device for working with these documents in the first place would probably be a tablet. So lets restrict the program to running on everything but the best devices for it.

Of course, if you consider that these tablets are competing with their (failing) Surface RT devices then I guess it makes sense, but there aren't many people out there who are going to junk their new Nexus 7's just to be able to view and edit Office docs. As with anything, the software ecosystem will find a way around it.

Microsoft really needs to get their heads out of their (collective euphemism for the place where the sun doesn't shine) and get their mobile strategy house in order.